There was an occasion when boys spoke on the Holy Bible, Moses, and
the Ten Commandments. They thought that they had done nicely.

Then, in the evening Swami came to that side and said, "Who are the
boys who spoke this morning?" Three boys got up. "What are the Ten
Commandments?" He asked.

The fellows couldn’t open their mouths. They mumbled something. Then
He came over to me and said, "You are from the Christian College.
Tell me the Ten Commandments!"

I got 50% marks. Out of ten, I could say five. Not a total insult.
Then He went to another teacher who directed the whole play, who was
the director. "Tell Me the Ten Commandments!"

He said a few things that were not any commandment. Swami said,
"Don’t speak like that." So everyone laughed.

Then Bhagavan said, "Sanathana Dharma, ancient Dharma,
is the bottom, the bedrock, the parent. Out of this parental stock
came various religions like Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and
Jainism. These religions have come into existence only three
thousand years ago. But this Sanathana Dharma, nobody can say
its beginning. We can tell the date of every religion’s birth. But
when Sanathana Dharma was born, no one can say, as it had no
beginning."

Then I thought that it was time for me to say something. I said,
"Now Swami, I understand that Sanathana Dharma is the main
thing and that all the other religions are its shadows." I thought
it was quite intelligent!

He passed two steps ahead and turned round, "Repeat what you said!"

"Swami, Sanathana Dharma is the main object and all other
religions are its shadows."

"No, No, No! They are not shadows! All religions are reflections,
not shadows. Shadows are of inferior quality, whereas reflections
are as much as the very object itself! Christianity, Islam,
Buddhism, Jainism, all religions are as great, as perfect, as the
object, Sanathana Dharma. Therefore they are reflections, not
the shadows. Correct yourself!" He said.

And then He looked at these boys and said, "What else did you
speak?" They had heard all this talk, so they kept quiet.

Then Bhagavan said, "While speaking, you should tell the ultimate.
You develop your topic. At the end, you should tell the ultimate
Truth. You cannot stop in the middle. And this is a hint for all
speakers because some speakers begin somewhere and stop nowhere. The
audience forgets the very topic on which he wanted to speak. And at
the end, the speaker may not tell on what he spoke. This sort of
speakers we have."

But Bhagavan gave a clue to the prospective speakers. Establish the
speakers by giving a good example. What did He say? "Here you have
milk. You curdle it, make it curd. You churn it, and bring out the
butter. You heat it and get the ghee. You heat the ghee, it
continues to be ghee. The ghee is the ultimate. Milk is the
beginning and it ends in the state of ghee. Similarly, talks should
begin at the stage of milk and end up at the stage of ghee, the
ultimate. You can never drop in the middle."

I gave a talk in the college auditorium to the boys on Adi Shankara.
Swami was passing by that evening. My voice was fumbling because He
might ask me a question for which I had no answer. And I might also
give some details, to which Swami might say, "You are utterly
wrong."

I was very, very hesitant. I said, "Yes, Swami, by Your grace."
Because grace is unquestionable, non-controversial.

Swami went in. After an interview He came out and said, "What did
you say?" I said a few points.

He said, "OK, OK, right, right, right." But I got stuck up at some
place for which the Divine Player was waiting. I said, "Bhagavan,
Swami, God is the eternal truth, which is changeless. Creator is
eternal, but creation is momentary. God is changeless, while
creation is changeable. God is permanent, but creation is
temporary." I thought that I was explaining nicely. He gave me a
long rope to hang myself!

At the end He said, "You are wrong."

"How, Swami, how?" He said, "God, Creator, is eternal. Creation is
also eternal."

"How can there be two eternal things?" I know paternal and maternal,
but not two eternal, existing things. How can they be? "Swami, one
is changeable; one is changeless. How can they both be eternal?"

Then He said, "Human being may die, but not humanness or human
quality. Cow may die, but not the nature of the cow. Creation may
change from time to time, but its nature remains the same."

Then I got thoroughly confused. Sometimes, we teachers do that in
the classroom. When a boy is putting questions, we try to confuse
him more, so that the bell will ring and everyone will go for a
break!

Now I said, "Swami, the philosophy of Adi Shankara is the existence
of the One-without-a-second. Only one reality exists. Everything
else is illusion, delusion or maya. This is what I read. But
You say that the Creator and the creation are both eternal. Now You
are speaking of two. I say there is only one. What is it that is
common between the two? One changes, while the other does not
change. Well, what is there which is common?"

Swami then said, "Creator is eternal, creation is eternal. This
eternity is common."

I don’t know what an answer it is! Eternity common between the
Creator and creation! Then I could understand that it was time for
me to remain silent.

That night I was preparing for my class on Bhagavad Gita to
teach postgraduate students in the college. I was teaching the
thirteenth chapter. Please believe me when I was reading the text,
the twentieth verse says, "Creator and creation both are eternal."

That is Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Whatever He speaks has got a
basis, approved by the sacred texts. It is not for an argument that
He speaks. He does not mean to convince you. It is based on the
ancient Vedanta philosophy.

There was one boy, a new boy. Swami said, "Come on. First year
undergraduate course."

The fellow said, "Swami, I have a lot of fear for everything.
Because of fear, I cannot sleep at night." Sleep is important for
life.

Swami said, "Why fear when I am here? Why fear? Man doesn’t know his
capacity. Man has greatest strength. (This includes women.) Man is
so weak because he doesn’t know his strength. He has got the
strength even to make God come down to him."

My nature is never to keep quiet. I get into trouble like this. A
bitter gourd cannot change its taste! "Swami, why, if I don’t know
whether I have strength or not, what does it matter? What is the use
of such unknown strength?"

Baba said, "Here is the sugar cane. The sweetness of the sugar is
not known to the sugar cane. Similarly, man does not know his own
capacity."

Then I asked, "What is the benefit? Who will know that, if we don’t
know? Ants know the sweetness of the sugar, but not the sugar cane.
Diamond cuts a diamond. Where are the ants? Where is the sugar cane?
How am I to understand?"

Baba said, "You are the sugar cane. Your friends and relations are
the ants. They come to you because of the sweetness in you. That
sweetness may be in your personality, knowledge and education."

I continued, "When ants know, and the sugar cane doesn’t know, what
is to be done now?"

Swami said, "Do you think I cannot answer you?"

"No, no, no. I want to know."

"Everyone should think, ‘Am I worse than an ant? Even the ant knows
the sweetness of the sugar cane, and I don’t know. What a low
creature am I! By that way, you can know your strength."